When we are asked to reveal our height and weight, most of us tell a bald lie.

These fabrications are not limited to one gender or ethnic group. Almost all of us tell others we are slightly taller and weigh slightly less than we really do, reports LiveScience.com.

Led by Ming Wen, an associate professor at the University of Utah, the team analyzed data from the 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which used both self-reported and measured height, weight and body mass index grouped by gender and ethnicity.

The lies men tell:

• Men in all ethnic groups overestimate their height by a half-inch, on average.

• While black men slightly overestimate their weight, all other ethnic groups of men underestimate how much they weigh.

The lies women tell:

• Women in all ethnic groups overestimate their height by a third of an inch, on average.

• While all women underestimate their weight, black women shave off the most pounds--on average, 3.8 pounds.

• Women underestimate their total BMI, a measurement of weight and height combined, far more than men. And white women underestimate their BMI more than women of other ethnicities.

The study findings were published in the journal Ethnicity & Disease.

--From the Editors at Netscape